Day 40 - February 12, 2025 - Wednesday - Cairns Australia

I learned a new word after dinner the other night.  While dining in the Restaurant , a very original name for the main dinning room on the Sky, we continued to see large flocks of birds flying by at high speed and making various formations.  After dinner I researched to see what these might be.  I found out that these were Metallic Starlings, common in Cairns at this time of year.  The new word I learned was murmuration.  This term normally only refers to a flock of starlings as they sweep and form various patterns.  Now you perhaps learned a new word too.  Unless you are already a birder, and then you would know...

This is a borrowed photo from the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, not the murmuration we saw.

We were excited about our second day in Cairns.  We had a very busy day planned with an 8 hour excursion which would take us to the village of Kuranda, in the mountains northwest of Cairns. 

Just before dawn, taken from the Sky's sundeck around 5:00 AM while I enjoyed my first cup of coffee.

After we boarded our coach, I noticed this sign on the coach's window next to ours.  I am not sure if this is a bit of Aussie humor, or they think someone would be stupid enough to try! The window is about 8 ft off the ground and 8 inches wide...

Kay and I visited the village of Kuranda in 2005, actually twice.  We took the Skyrail round trip the first time and then we drove our rented car up to the rainforest village the second.  This time we were to take the Scenic Railway up and the Skyrail back. This train's carriages were built between 1909 and 1913 and being pulled by locomotives built in the late 1960's. Construction on this narrow gauge track began in 1887 in an effort to link the gold rich mines to the seacoast.  It was one of the greatest railroad construction efforts ever undertaken.  The track runs only 20.5 miles from Kuranda to Cairns but has 105 cuttings, 15 hand carved tunnels, and 55 bridges.

Stock photo (obviously) of the bridge at Stony Creek Falls in Barron Gorge

A view of Stony Creek Falls from the train

Barron Falls, a total drop of over 850 feet.  The volume was particularly heavy due to the recent major rains in Queensland.

Unfortunately, these are the only photos I was able to get while on the train.  These were taken at the two stops the train made.  Seating on the train was randomly done and by the luck of the draw, neither of the 4 of us got a window seat.  Considering there were only 6 seats per window seating area, it just wasn't our lucky day.

Following the train ride up the mountain to Kuranda, we immediately reboarded our coach, which had driven up, and made the short 10 minute drive to the Rainforeststation Nature Park.  This too, Kay and I had previously visited, but it had expanded over the last 20 years.

A sleeping Tasmanian Devil.

One of the many friendly free roaming kangaroos at the park.

The always adorable Koala "Bear"

The Tree Kangaroo.  These are one of the earliest examples of kangaroo.

A Mertens' water monitor.  They can grow up to about 7 feet.  This one was around 4 feet in length.

They are beautiful animals, but are threatened by the spread of cane toads.  When eaten by the monitors, the toad's poison will kill the lizard.

One of the many species of pythons at the park.

After viewing the animals, we had an included lunch at the Park's restaurant.   We then reboarded the coach for a trip into the village proper for an hour of exploring, e.g. shopping...

I found that Annabel's Pie Shop was still here!  20 years ago I tasted my first kangaroo in one of her pies.  I would have had one today, but they were sold out.

And... the ultimate gift for the man (or woman) who has everything.  A kangaroo's scrotum made into a keychain.  Or you can get one made into a bottle opener or a change purse.

As I said earlier, we were to return via the Skyrail.  This was what the four of us were most looking forward to.  Unfortunately, it had been halted due to lightning detected in the area.  We were to wait 15 minutes and hope the warning cleared.  After the 15 minutes we waited another 15 minutes, but it appeared the service would not restart.  We had to return to town by the coach.  It was a real disappointment, on the last trip I got some good photos.

Since we missed our Skyrail ride, I will share a few photos from our 2005 trip.

This is the Barron Falls again.  This time from the other side of the gorge and it was in November, before the wet season got into full swing.  Notice the volume is much less and not muddy brown.  If you look above the falls to the left you can see the cut for the train tracks where we stopped for the photo from today.

Finally, this is a shot of Cairns at night, taken from our vernada.

Tomorrow is a sea day as we make our way to Thursday Island in the Torres Straits between Australia and  Papua New Guinea.